Band Of Brothers

A great second half display saw Arsenal see out a deserved 3-1 win at the Britannia stadium. The victory however came at a cost, as we lost Ramsey for the season to Ryan Shawcross’s manhandling. The tackle though not malicious, was ill-timed and dangerous fracturing Ramsey’s fibula and tibia.

Now I get that there is an evident gulf in class, and these lower level teams must do everything possible to try to stop Arsenal from playing their brand of football. I also get that football is a physical game but nowhere in the game should tackles like this be allowed. It’s ruining the credibility of the league when pundits constantly refer to arsenal as softies, or my personal favorites “Arsenal don’t like it up em” and “You have to let them know you are there”.

This myth has long been perpetuated by Sky’s Andy Gray and Richard Keys. I refuse to believe that players set out to intentionally harm our players, but no doubt they would have heard these phrases over and over again, Arsenal don’t like it up em. Could Shawcross have pulled out of the challenge? maybe. Stoke were definitely living up to the mantra with some choice tackles from Fuller and Collins.

Get well soon Ramsey and hopefully this is the spark the team needs to go on and win the title, surely the lads are mentally strong and this would serve as the extra motivation – winning it for Ramsey!

It’s time for the FA to step up and clamp down on these dirty teams who just don’t want to play football and the referees must also try to enforce the rules to protect players.

From here on out confidence will be high, as i said before this will be the spark the team needs, to turn this sad news into something positive. These lads have banded together and it was evident by their center circle hug at the end of the game. Surely these new band of brothers will go on to win the title now or at least give their very best till the end.